The Comfort of Distant Lights
by DearSweetPapercut
Summary: Bonnie runs into Damon while he's off the deep end. Whiskey, wallowing and weakness. One-shot.


My first Vampire Diaries fanfic, hope you all like it, please review :)

Set post 2x01

**The Comfort of Distant Lights **

Damon stood by the lake; in the moonlight he could see the small waves lap up against the edge of the water. He closed his eyes and listened intently to the soft sound of the waves breaking. The bottle of whiskey felt heavy in his hand. He was drunk. His whole body felt weightless and it was almost as if the bottle in his hand was the only real thing about the situation. Opening his eyes he picked up a small rock by his feet and with one swift arm movement skimmed it across the surface of the water and watched it sink into the murky depths. He lifted the bottle to his lips and swallowed another mouthful of the fiery liquid.

The sound of footsteps crunching grass behind him disturbed Damon from his misery. He turned with a frown plastered on his handsome features ready to scold Stefan for attempting to play the Good Samaritan; he was most certainly not in the mood to hear a speech about being good and moving on. But to his surprise it was in fact Bonnie Bennett that was approaching him ever so slowly as if he would lash out if she were too quick.

"Bennett to what do I owe the pleasure?" he smirked while bowing in front of her, the alcohol had done nothing for his balance almost causing him to collapse at her feet. She frowned at the older man before her. _Was he really that screwed up? _She thought to herself_. _

"I'm not here for you...I...I come here to think." She added the last part to soften what she was saying. She had made no attempt to hide her dislike for Damon Salvatore but still she had the humanity to see that he was hurting- it would be wrong to kick the man while he was down.

"Think away my little witchy friend." he smiled in a way that people can only do when they are drunk. But he was not people- Bonnie noted as she moved slowly to stand beside him. She pursed her lips and kept her green eyes focused on the water. Damon picked up another rock and skimmed it across the water. He was just like the rock, he thought to himself; things seemed to be okay, he seemed to be okay but soon enough he was finding himself sinking back into this old existence. A bitter existence. He took another sip of his whiskey and offered it to Bonnie.

"No thank you." She politely declined and turned away from him again not wanting to drawn in by those intense blue eyes.

"Suit yourself, but honestly, this stuff helps with the whole thinking thing...seriously I'm seeing everything much clearer now." he slurred at his companion.

Bonnie turned to him ready to shoot him down but something stopped her. It was as if she was seeing, really seeing, Damon for the first time; his grief, his pain, his loss. He was like the rest of them hurting from what someone else had done. He looked broken in the most beautiful way. Even off the deep end he looked damn alluring. Bonnie scolded herself for the thoughts, his charms and good looks hid many sinister things she reminded herself.

"Why do you look so conflicted? Are you finally considering sleeping with me? I'd highly recommend it." He gave her the once over and licked his lips.

"You're disgusting." Bonnie snapped, suddenly feeling insecure about the length of her dress.

"I would say charming and devilishly handsome but...if disgusting works better for you..." he smirked taking another swing from his bottle. Bonnie wanted to leave but she couldn't quite bring herself to abandoning him in the state that he was in.

"Why do you like it when everyone hates you?" Bonnie asked, her green eyes meeting his blue ones for the first time stopping him in his tracks. He looked at her with a vacant expression and sat himself down- his balance had finally given up on him.

"Why don't you tell me oh wise one." he responded snarkly. Bonnie sighed with frustration and sat herself down beside him.

"I don't know, normal people look for love, for acceptance. But you..." she trailed off unable to finish off the sentence. If Bonnie was honest with herself she was captivated by the man next to her.

"Well you may have noticed but I'm not normal people." he smirked, congratulating himself with a sip from his drink. There was a few moments silence between them as they both attempted to figure out what to say next. Almost out of nowhere Damon began speaking. "Hate is predictable, the expectations, the dimensions never change but with love...well everything changes and it doesn't stop changing. Why play a harder game?" he asked rhetorically.

"That is a terrible rationalisation." Bonnie shrugged.

"Is that so..." Damon gave a small humourless chuckle. "Tell me my magical friend, why do you not trust anyone?" He turned his intense gaze on her.

"I do trust...I just don't trust you." she snapped.

"Ouch. That's not nice." Damon narrowed his eyes at her in a provocative way.

"Don't you ever get fed up of being...you." She asked through gritted teeth.

"No, I don't actually, I love being me. Why would I want to be less hotter? Less funny?" He smirked again. Bonnie glanced at the man beside her, not knowing exactly how to talk to him. He was very good at dodging the hard questions she noted. Her green eyes attempted to elicit some truth from him.

"You're hurting people." Bonnie pointed out; she leant back and waited for a reaction.

"Do I look like I care?" Damon asked in a husky low voice.

"Yes you do." Bonnie responded hinting towards the bottle in his hand. Damon simply shrugged and took another swing.

"What about me?" he asked. He turned to look at Bonnie, and she could tell from his expression that he was being sincere. "What about people hurting me?" He spoke quietly, almost as if he was afraid to admit just how hurt he had been by Katherine and dare he say it Elena. Unable to figure out exactly how to react Bonnie placed a hand on Damon's back in a sympathetic manner. He turned his eyes on her causing her to shiver.

"Thought so..." he started quietly but soon enough it was clear to see he was angry. "There is nothing you can say is there? It doesn't matter if I get hurt because I'm such a terrible person. Is that it?"

"You're not a...terrible person." Bonnie said quietly. She was fully aware of Damon's strength, and also of is rash behaviour when he snapped. He turned to her, his eyes softening again; his expression was more confused than anything.

He couldn't help himself. He didn't know if he had voluntarily moved forwards or if his loss of balance had led him to close the space between him and Bonnie. For a few seconds neither one of them moved; she could smell the whiskey on his breath and he could feel the warmth of her breathing. Stirring slowly he brushed his lips against hers and waited for a response much to his disappointment Bonnie had pulled away giving him a serious look while doing so.

"Don't..." she whispered. He turned away from her, feeling slightly embarrassed. "Look...Damon...you can sit here and drink yourself to oblivion and wallow in self pity but it's not helping anyone...and it's most certainly not helping you. Yeah Katherine hurt you. Yeah you can't have Elena. But things are more complicated than that...everyone hurts...I've lost the most important person in my life...the only person that really loved me...but as much as it hurts..." She trailed off and when Damon looked at Bonnie this time she was almost in tears, her bright green eyes had clouded over and the pain was clear in her expression.

"I'm sorry..." Damon whispered. He offered Bonnie his hand; she gripped it tightly while silent tears glided down her cheeks. They sat in silence neither one of them knowing what to say. Neither one of them had intended to share as much as they had. Damon pulled Bonnie into an embrace in attempts to comfort her. They slowly moved apart a slow smile spread across Damon's face.

"Look at us...wallowing in self pity...get it together Bennett." Damon patted her on the arm, a smile tugged at Bonnie's lips and in a way she felt glad that she'd run into Damon.

"You too..." She pulled herself up off the ground. "I'm off...don't get too drunk."

"Do I ever?" He laughed picking up the bottle he'd almost forgotten.

Bonnie cast one last glance at Damon who held her gaze giving her a genuine smile before turning away.

**The End**


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